Global smartphone market slips 1.2% to 360m units in second quarter

The world smartphone market slipped 1.2% yr on yr in the second quarter to 360m units, primarily due to the declining Chinese market.

According to Counterpoint Research, the decline was for the seventh consecutive quarter whereas China alone accounted for over one-fourth of the worldwide smartphone shipments.

Samsung benefited from the US-China commerce warfare with a 7.1% development to 76.6m and capturing greater than one-fifth of the worldwide smartphone market share.

Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, stated that Samsung has utterly overhauled its product portfolio this yr with its ‘A and M’ sequence, concentrating on the sub $300 worth section aggressively.

“The flagship ‘S’ series, which Samsung launched three devices instead of the usual two, covering wider price points, also continued to do well. Samsung was also one of the first OEMs to launch a 5G device – S10 5G, which remains popular in the 5G adopting countries,” he stated.

After Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and ZTE launched its 5G units.

The analysis firm expects greater than 20 million 5G units to be shipped this yr.

Huawei to face bumpy street forward

On the opposite hand, Huawei, which is on the epicentre of the US-China commerce warfare, registered a 4.6% development throughout the quarter to 56.7m units, capturing a 16% market share.

Pathak stated that the impact of the US ban in May didn’t translate into falling shipments throughout this quarter but it surely won’t be the case in the long run.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East, he stated that Huawei’s shipments throughout the second quarter have been on parallel with the primary quarter however the vendor did a brisk enterprise in China in contrast to abroad markets.

“The uncertainty of the US ban remains as nothing on the supply chain is official yet. The chipset and component outsourcing might not be a critical factor for Huawei but the Google OS is the critical part.  It has to be seen about the refresh Mate series by the end of the year,” he stated.

In the approaching quarters, he stated that Huawei is probably going to be aggressive in its dwelling market and register some development there, but it surely won’t be sufficient to offset for the decline in its abroad shipments.

“This will further lead to the decline of the overall smartphone market in 2019. However, the gap created in the market by Huawei gives a window of opportunity to other OEMs, especially Samsung, to leverage,” he stated.

However, the true impact of commerce sanctions on Huawei will probably be felt in the third quarter and shipments in abroad markets are estimated to register a steep decline.

Marketing muscle 

Quoting a survey performed by the analysis agency in Europe, Pathak stated that 40% of the persons are nonetheless cool about Huawei and most count on constructive for the model.

“They [Huawei] can increase the capex of the brand by increasing warranty to two years and after-sales service. In China, the demand for Huawei phones has increased amid a slight decline in sales in other parts while consumers are upbeat about the brand,” he stated.

Huawei…